Dating app Hinge tests a pricier $60 per month subscription, similar to Tinder Platinum | TechCrunch

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Match-owned dating app Hinge confirmed it’s testing a higher-priced premium subscription of $50 to $60 per month — a significant increase over the current $35 per month pricing. The company had earlier teased the new offering during Match’s Q3 2022 earnings in November, calling it Hinge’s equivalent of Tinder’s top-tier “Platinum” subscription, as a comparison, and touting its potential to drive the revenue per payer “meaningfully higher.”

Bloomberg first reported the news of the premium offering, which a spokesperson for Match Group confirmed.

Hinge will aim its pricey subscription at “highly motivated daters,” it said, who are willing to pay for more features to boost their exposure in the app as well as those that would allow them to receive better recommendations. For example, subscribers’ “likes” will be seen faster than others, among other things, the report noted.

Read More

Life as a 21st-Century Trucker | WIRED

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Midwesterner—one who loves country gospel, rides a horse he has trained to roll over and grin, and has, himself, a whinnying laugh—into a human incandescence. Sixty-four, 5′ 5″, and dressed like a cowboy, he increases in stature; his voice crescendos to cracking. “The devil’s learned to use us and abuse us, to beat the snot out of us,” he says, then uppercuts the air. “Amen, Chuck?” A man in the second row with a great, ZZ Top–like beard croaks amen. “The devil mopped the floor with me,” LeRette continues, and mimes a janitorial sweep. “But God—but God!—” he shrieks, pounding the lectern and leaping, “—had compassion on you and I.”

It’s a weeknight in December 2021, getting toward Christmas, and I’m sitting in the trailer of an 18-wheeler that’s been repurposed into LeRette’s chapel. It’s parked, permanently, at the Petro Travel Center, a truck stop off Interstate 39 in northern Illinois. All around it are acres of commercial trucks, stopped for the night and carrying every kind of cargo: cows, weed, pro-wrestling rings, grain, petroleum. One side of LeRette’s trailer reads “Transport for Christ”; beside it, a neon cross gleams in the dark. John 3:16 adorns the back end: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Next to the scripture are two godly hands cradling a truck.

Read More

How to Fly First Class For Cheap and Without Paying Full Price | Entrepreneur

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Once you’ve experienced the luxuries of flying First Class, it’s nearly impossible to return to the cramped, close-knit quarters of coach. The extra space, next-level service, convenience and perks of First and Business Class are necessary if you want your flying experience to be memorable and arrive at your destination feeling refreshed.

On the flip side, the exorbitant price of a First Class seat can make you feel like a sucker, and as we all know, with the way airlines price tickets these days, it’s a strong possibility that everyone sitting around you paid a different price for exactly the same seat.

So how do you get the best deal for the seat you want?

Read More

7 Ways for SMEs to Grow Sensibly | Getentrepreneurial.com

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The number of small businesses and SMEs has grown exponentially in recent years, and many are eager to grow further and monetise their success. However, it’s important to remember that growth isn’t a race – it’s a journey.

Growth needs to be approached strategically and sensibly if it’s going to be sustainable and profitable. If you’re an SME looking to expand, here are seven ways to ensure you’re growing your business sensibly.

Read More

Bicycle Lighting In Water Bottle | Cool Business Ideas 

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Most bike lights shine primarily forward or backward, with some side visibility thrown in as a bonus. The Orb MKII, on the other hand, is specifically designed to make cyclists more visible from the sides … and it takes the form of a fully functional water bottle.

Currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, the Orb MKII was designed by British cyclist Andrew Phillips. He previously brought us the Droid, a theft-resistant headlight that replaces the faceplate on a bike’s existing handlebar stem.

The Orb MKII fits in a standard frame-mounted bottle cage, and has a 650-ml HDPE (high-density polyethylene) main body combined with an ABS lid. Four orange OSRAM LEDs in an electronics module on the underside of that lid put out a combined 80 lumens, causing the whole bottle body to glow – Phillips tells us that the setup works equally well with or without water.

Read More

HUD Bicycle Helmets | Cool Business Ideas 

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

While HUD (Head-Up Display) technology is becoming increasingly common in cars and even motorcycle helmets, it’s still largely unavailable to cyclists. That could soon change however, if the SoulRS helmet-mounted HUD reaches its crowdfunding goal.

First of all, it should be noted that SoulRS is also intended for use on motorcycle helmets, not just bike helmets. In either case, it attaches in more or less the same fashion

A curved baseplate gets stuck to the front of the helmet via a two-sided adhesive pad, then the visor-shaped HUD module can be slid in and out of a slot in that plate as needed. This functionality allows the HUD module to be taken off for battery charging, and to be swapped back and forth between multiple baseplate-equipped helmets.

Read More

Cheaper Apple AirPods could be on the way in 2024 | Mashable

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Scared off by the price tag on those AirPods you’ve been wanting? Just wait for…another year or two.

Apple is reportedly working on a couple of new AirPods products, according to respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo tweeted late Wednesday night that a new $99 model as well as an updated version of the luxury, over-ear AirPods Max are coming. The catch? Don’t expect either to ship until the second half of 2024 at the earliest.

Read More

Coinbase to lay off 20% of staff as crypto winter continues | CNN Business

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The crypto winter is apparently not over yet. Coinbase announced Tuesday that it was laying off 950 people, about 20% of its staff. The job cuts come only a few months after another major round of layoffs. The crypto brokerage firm let 1,100 people go in June, about 18% of its headcount at the time.

Coinbase, like many other publicly traded and privately held crypto companies, has been hit hard by the massive plunge in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The price of bitcoin is hovering around $17,000 after peaking near $65,000 in late 2021.

Some crypto fans have been encouraged by the solid start for bitcoin so far in 2023. Bitcoin is up more than 4% since the start of the year, suggesting that crypto prices may have finally bottomed out.

Read More

Fed Chair Powell: Bringing down inflation requires ‘measures that are not popular’ | CNN Business

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made his first public appearance of the year on Tuesday, stressing the importance of central bank independence and his commitment to bringing down inflation.

The painful rate hikes the Fed is implementing to tackle high prices don’t make officials particularly popular, Powell said during a panel discussion at an event hosted by Sweden’s central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank.

But, they are a necessary measure, he noted: “Price stability is the bedrock of a healthy economy and provides the public with immeasurable benefits over time. But restoring price stability when inflation is high can require measures that are not popular in the short term as we raise interest rates to slow the economy.”

Read More